American Music Awards
The American Music Awards show is one of several annual major American music awards shows (among the others are the Grammy Awards, the currently dormant Billboard Music Awards, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony). edit] History and overview edit] Conception The AMAs were created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC. Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond co-hosted the first award show with Rodney Allen Rippy and Ricky Segall. edit] Differences between the AMA and Grammy Awards While the Grammy Awards are awarded based on votes by members of the entertainment industry, the AMAs are determined by a poll of music buyers, and as a result is more of a representative of public opinion.The "big three" established awards shows (AMAs, Billboard Music Awards, and Grammy Awards) compete for prestige and television ratings, with the Grammy Awards nominally rewarding quality and both the AMAs and Billboard Music Awards rewarding popularity. Stories of artists being pressured to participate in one awards show over the other have been fodder for tabloid gossip and controversy. The controversy was muted somewhat after the AMAs moved to late November, avoiding being in the same awards season as the Grammys. Also, the American Music Awards have nominations based on sales and airplay (even if the album is old),[citation needed] while the Grammys only nominate albums from their eligibility period.[citation needed] edit] Favorite Artist of the Year In 1996, the AMAs instituted a new award, Favorite Artist of the Year, which was awarded to Garth Brooks. Brooks gave a short speech essentially saying he didn't deserve the award in a year he didn't do anything, and left the award on the podium. The category was discontinued. In 200412, the AMAs brought in a new category entitled "T-Mobile Text-In Award", which resembled the Favorite Artist of the Year. The academy took one artist from 5 genres of music (rap, rock, pop, R&B, country) and merged them into one category, where America texted in their vote for their favorite artist of the selected five. Kenny Chesney won the first award, Rascal Flatts won the second award, Carrie Underwood won the third, with Chris Brown winning the fourth. edit] International flavor Although the American Music Awards is primarily for artists that originate from the United States, international artists like Elton John, Def Leppard, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, George Michael, Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and the like have also won awards on the show, although this is primarily due to their popularity in the United States. edit] Hosts For the first decade or so, the AMAs had multiple hosts, each representing a genre of music. For instance, Glen Campbell would host the country portion (Campbell, in fact, has co-hosted the AMAs more times than any other host or co-host), while other artists would co-host to represent his/her genre. In recent years, however, there has been one single host. For the 2008 awards, Jimmy Kimmel hosted for the fourth consecutive year. In 2009, there was no host for the first time in history. Instead, the AMAs followed the Grammys' lead in having various celebrities give introductions. From its inception in 1973 until 2003, the AMAs have been held in mid- to late-January, but were moved to November beginning in 2003 so as not to further compete with other major awards shows (such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards) and allows for ABC to have a well-rated awards show during November sweeps. edit] Artists with the most awards The most American Music Awards for a group belongs to Alabama who have collected twenty-three awards. The record for a solo artist belongs to Michael Jackson who has amassed twenty-six awards (twenty-four as solo artist), including one for "artist of the century".345 The record for the most American Music Awards won in a single year is held by both Michael Jackson (for 1983's Thriller), and Whitney Houston (for 1992's The Bodyguard Soundtrack), each with 8 awards to their credit (including the Award of Merit, with which both artists were honored in the respective years). edit] Most American Music Awards won by category Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group: (16) Wins *Alabama Favorite Country Female Artist: (12) Wins *Reba McEntire Favorite Country Male Artist: (9') Wins *Garth Brooks Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: ('8) Wins *Luther Vandross Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist: (4') Wins *Celine Dion Favorite Latin Artist: ('5) Wins *Enrique Iglesias Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo, or Group: (4') Wins *Boyz II Men *Gladys Knight and the Pips *Earth, Wind and Fire Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist: ('4) Wins *Olivia Newton John *Whitney Houston Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist: (4') Wins *Mariah Carey *Aretha Franklin Favorite Alternative Artist: ('4) Wins *Linkin Park Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist: (3') Wins *Michael Jackson *Michael Bolton *Eric Clapton *Barry Manilow Favorite Pop Band/Duo or Group Artist: ('2) Wins *Bee Gees *Fleetwood Mac *Backstreet Boys Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo or Group Artist: (4) Wins *Aerosmith |} |}